Posted on 12/13/2008 10:16:55 AM PST by FocusNexus
OnStar, the unit behind General Motors' GPS-based in-vehicle security system, offers Stolen Vehicle Slowdown technology: An OnStar operator can send a signal to a vehicle, restricting its fuel and slowing it to 3-5 mph. The technology is available on about 1 million 2009 GM vehicles, OnStar spokesman Jim Kobus says.
Another company, Virginia Beach-based StarChase, is field-testing its Pursuit Management System. It's a launcher on the front of a police car that fires projectiles that stick on a fleeing vehicle targeted by laser, enabling police to track it by GPS.
The system, which has been tested by police in Columbus, Ohio, and Suffolk County, N.Y., is in final testing by the Los Angeles police, StarChase spokeswoman Mandy McCall says. "That kind of technology is exactly what we need," says Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina. "One of the most powerful tools the police have is to turn off their lights and siren because the pursued suspect will slow down."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsfactor.com ...
The problem with this is obvious. As OnStar tracks your car, the police, government whoever can either direct them officially to release where have you been coming and going, and to top it off, can slow you down to almost stop - or corrupt government officials can pay off some OnStar employee to track someone's car.
The second approach, StarChase, where the police could fire something that would stick to the vehicle, so they can track it, makes sense. This is mentioned in this article. but was not mentioned on FoxNews, but that makes sense, focus on the criminals, not the innocent people.
Great. Another reason for some people not to buy GM. /sarc
In a related item, Fox News also announced the premier of “The Best of Last Week’s News”
To be broadcast 15 to 20 hours per week, whenever, as needed.
Sod off GM!No more Big Brother Mobiles for me,
Will they be getting warrants to get Onstar to interfere? If not, unconstitutional.
I can see this causing accidents.
“Great. Another reason for some people not to buy GM. /sarc”
And another reason to let GM go bankrupt.
Older cars will become more valuable, as soon it will be impossible to avoid these kinds of privacy-invading gagets on new cars.
One other thing, in addition to the invasion of privacy, what if the system malfunctions, unexpectedly slows the car down, which will result in an accident. You could get killed on a freeway suddenly slowing down — cars could pile into you in seconds, since nobody expects someone in front of them to slow down to 3-5 miles per hour for no visible reason.
I was driving a GM Saturn product from Phoenix to Yuma, AZ. The speed limit on I10 is 75mph. After driving three hours at the speed limit, I passed a truck that was spewing particles from its bin. When I passed 80mph, OnStar phoned me to tell me I was speeding. LOL, safety first. Driver’s good move, second.
Most high speed chases result in accidents. This can control the high speed factor.
“Will they be getting warrants to get Onstar to interfere? If not, unconstitutional.”
The current plan, as described, is that they will use it only AFTER the car is reported stolen, so whoever has it, is in process of committing a crime, so the police has the right to stop them.
BUT... the implications for other uses is obvious.
Also, I bet most car chases do not involve stolen cars.
I disconnected mine, wired in a out of the blue circuit that any attempt to steal my Silverado it will die immediately when you apply the brake.
At the very I would have a discrete switch for the Onstar microphone, it has been used to listen in on a drug deal once.
Did you tell onstar mind their own damn business?
OnStar cannot stop my car at all.
“When I passed 80mph, OnStar phoned me to tell me I was speeding. LOL, safety first. Driver’s good move, second.”
Is this for real? It really happened to you?
If so, it’s awful. I suppose you should be glad OnStar didn’t call the police on you.
“Why don’t the forces of the dark side just get on with the brain implants , that allow not only for tracking , but behavior control and if needed , Ctrl-Alt-Delete of non- conforming subjects .”
How did you know? It’s part of Obama’s “change”. (/sarc — but not as far in the future, as one would think.)
I saw they are already using chips to track people, they aren’t putting them into the brain...YET.
FoxNews had a special, I only caugh part of it, that they have chips that can be implanted, then used as “badges” for entry/exit, AND can have your personal data, including medical history, which can be read by a device within a certain distance and it will all pop up on a computer.
+1. I’ll just hang on to my 17-year-old import until it rusts in half.
I did.
...except for super-nerds, who will be effectively invincible in the future.
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